Creamy Shrimp Creole Topping
I’ve been eating and making creamy shrimp creole topping for so long; I cant’ remember at a time without it. It is savory, spicy, and delicious. This sauce is also great with crawfish tail meat and fresh lump blue crab meat. The topping can also be used as a stuffing for any mild-flavored fish; just add some mozzarella, bread crumbs, or rice and stuff away.
If you like seafood at all, you are going to want to know how to make this!
Peel, devein, and roughly chop fresh shrimp. Reserve and keep cold until needed.
“Creole holy trinity” chopped onions, celery, green pepper
Cook the (trinity) celery, onion, green bell pepper until tender. Next, add the minced garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes or until fragrant. Add the oregano, thyme, paprika, salt, and pepper. Stir and thoroughly mix the ingredients.
Add and cook the shrimp over medium-high heat. Deglaze the pan with white wine. Once most of the wine is cooked, add Worchestershire sauce, shrimp stock/base, lemon juice, and bring to a simmer. Next, add the thickening agent (cornstarch mixed with cold water).
Adjust the seasoning and thickening agent if needed. Keep warm until ready for use.
Creamy Shrimp Creole topping on Blackened Halibut.
Creamy Shrimp Creole
Ingredients
Shrimp 21-25 count
- 1 lb shrimp, peeled, deveined, roughly chopped, and reserved cold
Vegetables and Herbs
- 3 tbsp butter, unsalted
- 1 cup pepper, green bell, stems, and seeds removed, cut into strips, and diced
- 1 cup celery, trimmed, cut into strips, and diced
- 1 cup onion, white, minced
- 3 large cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
- 3 tsp thyme, fresh or dried
- 2 tsp oregano, fresh or dried
- 2 tsp paprika, sweet
- 2 tsp salt, kosher, and black pepper mix 50/50
- 1 tbsp lemon, juice fresh
- ⅓ cup wine, white for deglazing
Sauce, stocks, and cream
- 4 tsp shrimp stock
- 4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tsp Tobasco-style hot sauce
- ½-⅔ cup cream, heavy
- 1 tsp cornstarch mixed with 4tbs of water (thickening agent) Add till desired thickness Potato starch is a great substitute
Garnish
- scallions, fresh and thinly sliced
- parsley, finely chopped
Instructions
Clean the Shrimp
- Peel, devein, and roughly chop the shrimp. Reserve and keep ice cold.
Prepping the Vegetables and Herbs
- Chop and mince the onions, celery, green bell pepper, and mince the garlic. Reserve
- Measure out the herbs and other ingredients
Making the Topping
- Using a large saute or fry pan, add the butter over medium-high heat. Melt the butter. Once the butter is melted, add the onions, celery, and green bell pepper. Cook for 2-3 minutes until soft.
- Next, add the garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes or until fragrant. To this, add the thyme, oregano, paprika, salt, lemon juice, and black pepper. Stir to combine thoroughly.
- While cooking, move the vegetables to one side of the pan and add the reserved cleaned and chopped shrimp. Once the shrimp have become plump and pink, deglaze the pan with white wine.
- Once most white wine has cooked out of the topping, add the shrimp stock, Worchestershire sauce, Tobasco-style hot sauce, and heavy cream. Prepare in a separate dish slurry with cornstarch and cold water. Add 1 tsp slurry to the hot sauce. The thickening agent should tighten the sauce almost instantly. If you desire a thicker consistency, add a bit more of the cornstarch slurry. Reduce the heat to low and keep warm until needed.
Garnish
- Line up 3-4 of fresh scallions, remove the root ends, and discard. Thinly slice the scallions and use them to garnish the topping.
- Chop some fresh parsley and garnish with this as well (if desired)